June 19, 2013

Curly Hair Don't Care

We always want what we don't have, right. I don't mean in a materialistic way I mean in a, "what our mama gave us", kinda way. For example girls with a larger behind may wish it was smaller when girls with a smaller behind wish they had a little more "junk in the trunk", right? Well the same rule applies to hair. The girls that have straight silky hair wish it were curly and full of volume when the opposite is true for girls like me. Curly hair can be unruly. That is why the straightening iron was invented and it is seriously one of the best beauty tools us girls have these days! My hair has been curly since the day I came out of the womb. Curly curly. My mother used to use an entire bottle of No More Tears on my hair just to brush it out and the only way she could style it was in pigtails or braids. Even then you would see the curls bing out like a slinky from the hair line.

Yes...this is me. Such a hot outfit for 1982.

So throughout my life this was a struggle. My hair wasn't just curly it was thick and very full so it was very hard to tame growing up. I used to use so much mousse and hairspray my hair was like a helmet it was so hard.

As I got older, I learned through trial and error what products worked to help me have straight hair. It was a temporary fix. Keratin never worked well for me (maybe it was the salon I went to but I lost interest) so I straighten my hair every other day. I blow it out and use a straightener with a protecting spray so that the damage is minimal. It lasts for 3 days if I push it but all that heat dries out my hair so I have to wash and deep condition it. I still have a lot of breaking at the ends but that is a small price to pay for me to have smooth straight hair. I truly have it down to a science. So much so that a lot of people don't know my hair is naturally curly.

Here it is straight. I swear I gain so much length with is straight.

The whole reason I am doing this post is because over this last week we had Derek's family in town Charleston and Paige (our cousin) has curly hair. It's beautiful. We discussed how hard it is for her to straighten it and that it is just easier for her to wear it curly. I was intrigued because I find it easier to wear it straight. So I asked her what she used because her curls were not frizzy and they were very defined. She said she used Cat Walk Curls Rock like this.

I thought that I should try that again. I thought I had tried it in the past because I feel I have tried every curl defining product on the market. My hair stylist had given me every product line he has for curly hair too. Then looking it up to see what ingredients were. I found it was very similar to a product I use every day..... Body Lotion. Yes. The lotion you slather onto your skin to help moisturize it. HELLO... that is perfect for course curly hair. So I grabbed my favorite body lotion and gave it a shot.

This stuff is the best. This happens to be Philosophies' Amazing Grace firming body emulsion version which I would not recommend using all the time because it's a lot more money that the regular but it smells sooooo good and I already had it in my house so I decided to try this. I will be using my CVS brand COCO butter moisturizer from now on.

I digress, so I tried it out and VOILA¡ It worked!

My curly frizzy hair was less curly and not frizzy plus it was oh so soft and smelt so good. Us curly hair gals know we need a heavy conditioner or product to help weight the hair, this weighs it down but is still feels light and airy. Now this photo was taken at the end of a long day wearing it curly and half up but you can see the curls are still shaped (minus that strand hanging beside my face, that was up also).

I seriously can't believe after 30-ahem something years I finally found something to help tame my hair! My husband is thrilled because he LOVES when I wear my hair natural and I love that it's so easy. I will wear my hair straight most of the time because that is how I prefer it but I will say this is easy on a summer day or if I am rushing.

So try it out! If you have curly hair and don't have a product you love try your body lotion and let me know what you think! I would love your feedback. Also if you have any other products you like for curly hair share those too!